Study Shows Radiation Device May Customize Therapy, Enable Some to Avoid More Lengthy Treatment

A study of the first approximately 100 patients who have received partial breast irradiation with a small, whisk-like, expandable device inserted inside the breast has shown that after one year, the device is effective at sparing nearby healthy tissue from the effects of radiation. The device, called SAVI™, is aimed at providing customized radiation therapy while minimizing exposure to healthy tissue around the breast after a woman has received a lumpectomy for early stage cancer.

The findings, reported recently at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's 2008 Breast Cancer Symposium held in Washington, D.C., showed that nearly half of the women, because of their anatomy or the location of the tumor, would not have qualified for other such similar internal radiation therapy techniques and would have likely needed a much longer course of therapy.

The device is another option for women with early breast cancer who have received a lumpectomy to remove a cancer. Radiation specialists sometimes opt to give women internal radiation – a process called brachytherapy – with the goal of giving concentrated doses of radiation to areas of concern while avoiding healthy tissue such as the heart, lungs, ribs and skin.

source: Moores Cancer Center at University of California

Radiotherapy students to benefit from new award winning training technology

Radiotherapy students in the Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences are set to benefit from a new virtual environment to help them learn and practice essential clinical skills.

The Faculty has recently completed the installation of Virtual Environment Radiotherapy Training, or VERT, an award-winning suite of software designed to simulate the delivery of radiotherapy treatment to cancer patients.

VERT creates a virtual clinical environment in which a simulated treatment room, treatment machine and patient are projected onto a large screen in 3D. The software is designed to give students a life-like experience of the radiotherapy environment and allows them to hone their practical skills in a completely safe situation.

source: Faculty of Health and Social Care Sciences

Study Shows Radiation Device May Customize Therapy, Enable Some To Avoid More Lengthy Treatment

A study of the first approximately 100 patients who have received partial breast irradiation with a small, whisk-like, expandable device inserted inside the breast has shown that after one year, the device is effective at sparing nearby healthy tissue from the effects of radiation. The device, called SAVI™, is aimed at providing customized radiation therapy while minimizing exposure to healthy tissue around the breast after a woman has received a lumpectomy for early stage cancer.

The findings, reported recently at the American Society of Clinical Oncology's 2008 Breast Cancer Symposium held in Washington, D.C., showed that nearly half of the women, because of their anatomy or the location of the tumor, would not have qualified for other such similar internal radiation therapy techniques and would have likely needed a much longer course of therapy.

source: Medical News Today

OHSU Cancer Institute Researchers Look at How Breathing Relates to Prostate Movement During Radiation

Results of the research are being presented at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology

Oregon Health & Science University researchers have determined exactly how much breathing affects prostate movement during radiation treatment.

The results of this research are being presented from 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. today at the 50th annual American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology in Boston.

“Many people think that the prostate is a static organ, meaning that it doesn’t move in relation to the bony pelvis, but that is not the case. The prostate is a moving organ, and we know it moves because of many factors including how full other organs are, such as the bladder,” said Tasha McDonald, M.D., Radiological Society of North America research resident grant recipient, OHSU Department of Radiation Medicine.

source: Oregon Health and Science University

Whole Brain Radiation Not Best for Cancer That Has Spread

(HealthDay News) - The common practice of adding whole brain radiation to more focused radiation treatment for cancers that have spread to the brain not only caused greater learning and memory problems, but also was associated with a shorter survival time in a controlled study.

The survival time data should be approached with caution, because the primary purpose of the study was to help settle a debate about the effects of whole brain radiation on mental function, said study author Dr. Eric L. Chang, an associate professor of radiation oncology at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. He presented the results Sept. 22 at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology annual meeting, in Boston.

source: CBC News

Whole Brain Radiation Increases Risk of Learning and Memory Problems in Cancer Patients with Brain Metastases

Cancer patients who receive stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) and whole brain radiation therapy (WBRT) for the treatment of metastatic brain tumors have more than twice the risk of developing learning and memory problems than those treated with SRS alone, according to new research from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The findings of the phase III randomized trial were presented at today's 50th annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology.

Led by Eric L. Chang, M.D., associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at M. D. Anderson, the study offers greater context to the ongoing debate among oncologists about how best to manage the treatment of cancer patients with one to three brain metastases.

The American Cancer Society estimates approximately 170,000 cancer patients will experience metastases to the brain from common primary cancers such as breast, colorectal, kidney and lung in 2008. More than 80,000 of those patients will have between one and three brain metastases.

source: M.D. Anderson

Calypso Medical and Siemens Announce Innovative Product Development Collaboration Agreement

CONCORD, Calif. and SEATTLE, Sep 22, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Calypso Medical Technologies, Inc. (Calypso Medical) and Siemens Healthcare today announced a product collaboration agreement that will begin to integrate Calypso Medical's real-time tumor tracking data with Siemens' linear accelerator products. The first application to be addressed under this agreement will include adaptive gating, the capability of automatically interrupting the radiation beam from a linear accelerator in response to patient motion, organ motion or tumor position.

Calypso Medical's GPS for the Body(R) technology uses tiny electromagnetic transponders placed in or around the tumor to provide precise, continuous information on the location of the tumor at all times during external beam radiation therapy. This real-time information is critical in cases where the tumor may move due to normal physiological processes or if the patient moves during treatment. These types of movement may cause the radiation to miss its intended target and hit adjacent healthy tissue. In contrast to other tumor targeting solutions, Calypso's GPS for the Body(R) technology provides continuous tumor position information, thereby optimizing the delivery of radiation to the tumor and minimizing misapplied radiation to normal tissue.

source: MarketWatch

TomoTherapy and Vision RT Partner to Expand Hi-Art(R) System Imaging Options

ASTRO 2008 - TomoTherapy Incorporated Investor Contact: Stephen C. Hathaway Chief Financial Officer 608.824.2800 shathaway@tomotherapy.com or Media Contact: Patty Kitowski Marketing Communications Manager 608.824.2820 pkitowski@tomotherapy.com TomoTherapy Incorporated (NASDAQ: TOMO) announced today that it has partnered with Vision RT to expand imaging options for Hi-Art(R) treatment system users. The companies will jointly introduce AlignRT(R) 3D imaging technology
for the Hi-Art platform at the annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO) in Boston, Mass., Sept. 21-25, 2008. TomoTherapy will distribute AlignRT(R) for use with both its TomoHelical(TM) and new TomoDirect(TM) delivery modes.

"We are excited about our strategic alliance with Vision RT, a company that is as focused on best-in-class clinical workflow and high-quality patient treatments as we are," said Fred Robertson, CEO of TomoTherapy. "AlignRT(R) does for Hi-Art system imaging what TomoDirect does for Hi-Art treatment delivery: both provide a new option for our users that can significantly improve patient throughput across a broad range of cancer cases."

source: PR-Inside

UNC spin-off company receives $2 million grant to market cancer treatment technology

A University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill spin-off company has been awarded a $2 million grant to commercialize a new technology to improve radiation treatment of prostate cancer.

The grant from the National Cancer Institute, as part of its Small Business Innovation Research program, will enable Morphormics Inc. to market its proprietary technology for rapidly constructing anatomical “roadmaps” of individual patients.

“These roadmaps are critical navigational aids that help physicians keep a radiation beam focused on the tumor, while at the same time avoiding nearby parts of the body that could be harmed by radiation exposure,” said Edward L. Chaney, Ph.D., Morphormics’ vice president of technology, professor in the School of Medicine’s department of radiation oncology, and member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

source: UNC News

Blacks Less Likely Than Whites To Receive Standard Of Care In Radiation Therapy For Breast Cancer

Black women are less likely than white women to receive radiation therapy after a lumpectomy, the standard of care for early stage breast cancer, according to a new study by researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The study, the largest of its kind, was presented in advance of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Breast Cancer Symposium, and is the first national study to examine such racial disparities in radiation therapy. Led by Grace Li Smith, M.D., Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow in M. D. Anderson's Department of Radiation Oncology, the researchers reviewed the Medicare records of more than 37,000 patients diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in 2003.

source: Medical News Today

Brain Cancer Patients at Two Leading Hospitals Treated Using Fast and Efficient RapidArc™ Radiotherapy Technology

PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Two leading cancer centers have carried out groundbreaking radiosurgery treatments for multiple brain metastases using new RapidArc™ radiotherapy technology from Varian Medical Systems (NYSE: VAR). The MIMA Cancer Center in Melbourne, Florida and VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam, Netherlands were each able to treat brain metastases more quickly and efficiently than would have previously been possible.

Stereotactic radiosurgery is used to quickly eradicate tumors by targeting them with high doses of radiation using precisely-shaped, image-guided, X-ray beams in just one to five treatment sessions. Varian's RapidArc, which targets treatment beams at tumors while rotating continuously around the patient, makes it possible to complete stereotactic radiosurgery sessions many times faster than conventional techniques that use stationary beams.

source: Varian